JPH0728860B2 - Blood component spectral characteristic measuring device - Google Patents

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to improvements in tools used for measuring spectral characteristics of blood in medical diagnostic tests and the like.

2. Description of the Related Art Measuring the types and concentrations of various components in blood is unavoidable for medical diagnosis, and various measuring methods have been proposed and practiced. For example, two methods are used for continuous measurement of blood glucose level necessary for the diagnosis of diabetes, one is a method of directly measuring blood glucose level in blood by connecting to blood vessels, but this is blood coagulation. However, there is a drawback that the performance of the sensor deteriorates with time due to blockage of the connecting path or deposition of plasma proteins. The other is a method of implanting the sensor in the body, but surrounding tissues grow and measurement conditions change, and biocompatibility of the material used for the sensor becomes a problem. The continuous measurement method of components other than blood glucose had the same drawbacks, and in any method, it is inevitable that the patient's living body will be damaged and not only the body but also the patient will be physically and mentally distressed. It was. For this reason, a method of obtaining information on the composition of blood without collecting blood without damaging the living body has been studied, and an internal multiple total reflection (ATR Attenuated Total Reflection) method using a laser light source as a light source by placing a total reflection prism on the surface of the living body has been studied. Although a method for measuring the components in blood has been proposed (USP 4169
676), since the penetration depth of light rays into the body is extremely shallow and does not reach the capillaries just below the epidermis, it is only necessary to measure the components that migrate from the blood vessels into the tissues and reach the surface layer. It was difficult to directly measure the blood constituents in the blood which changed into a constant value. As a method of penetrating the measuring ray into the skin to some extent, a method of arranging the light source part and the sensor so that the tip of the finger or the lip part is lightly sandwiched is proposed. It has been found that the movement of the patient is easy to come off and is extremely unstable, which significantly restricts the movement of the patient during the measurement.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention In the conventional apparatus, the patient's living body may be injured or may be mentally distressed, and further, the handling is inconvenient.

The present invention is a non-blood sampling method that eliminates these drawbacks and does not cause patient pain, and ensures that the light beam for measurement reaches at least the subcapillary capillaries and does not restrain the patient's behavior during measurement. An object of the present invention is to provide an easy-to-manufacture practical measuring device for measuring spectral characteristics of blood components that are measured.

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention is to fix two adjacent fingers so that they do not interfere with blood flow while closely adhering them, and sandwich the thin portion in the vicinity of the closely adhering portion of the fingers with the light source section. It is a device that arranges a sensor and measures blood components by light absorption when light passes through a finger.

Action In the present invention, the measuring light beam passes through the capillary blood vessel portion just below the skin surface layer portion, and since the fingers during measurement are stably fixed, the patient can act quite freely during the measurement, and its practical effect. Is extremely large.

EXAMPLES The contents of the invention will be described in detail below with reference to examples. First
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a measuring tool according to an embodiment of the present invention. Lids 4a and 4b having a screw mechanism at the center are provided at both mouths of a cylinder 1 having a gourd-shaped opening 2 on its side surface, and finger pressing tools 3a and 3b having screw portions adapted to the screw parts are provided in the longitudinal direction of the cylinder. The light emitted from the light source 9 is appropriately modulated by the light intensity modulation circuit 8 and is passed through the optical channel 11 to the spectroscope 7 where the dispersed light is an optical fiber. The injection lens system 6 is reached via 10.

At the time of measurement, the patient aligns two fingers and inserts them into the gourd-shaped opening 2, and fixes the inserted fingers with the finger holders 3a and 3b so as to be in close contact with each other, and then emits the spectrum light from the injection lens. When the light is inserted, it passes through the skin surface layer near the close contact part of the two fingers that are inserted and adheres, and after being absorbed according to the component composition of blood in the capillaries, the light that is not absorbed is detected by the sensor 12. Reach Here, after undergoing opto-electric conversion, it passes through the preamplifier 13 and the gate circuit 14 as an electric signal, then reaches the main amplifier / arithmetic circuit 15, is stored in the storage unit 16 and is taken out and used as needed. .

FIG. 2 shows the result of spectroscopically measuring the blood of a normal person by inserting the index finger and the middle finger of the left hand into the gourd-shaped opening 2 using this measuring tool and non-blood sampling. Absorption by hemoglobin below 650 mm and absorption by water in the near infrared region are clearly observed.

It is considered possible to measure the absorption due to blood sugar if it is carried out in the longer wavelength region.

Since this tool is connected to the main device via a flexible optical fiber and an electric wire as shown in FIG. 1,
The patient can move his / her body freely during the measurement, which has a great practical effect.

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION As described above, by using the measuring tool according to the present invention, it is possible to perform spectroscopic measurement using the thin portion near the contact portion of the finger, which is brought into close contact very easily, as the transmission path, and blood in the capillary tube of the skin surface layer portion. The spectral transmission characteristics due to the components can be clearly obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the main part of a measuring device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a spectroscopic measurement characteristic diagram of blood of a normal person measured in the visible to near-infrared region. . 1 ... Cylinder, 2 ... Gourd-shaped opening for inserting fingers for measurement, 3a, 3b ... Holder for closely fixing two fingers, 4a, 4b ... 3a, 3b support , 5a, 5b ...... screws for adjusting the gap between finger pressing tools, 6 ... light emitting part, 7 ... spectroscope, 8 ... light source, 9 ... light intensity modulation circuit, 10 ... optical fiber, 11 ...
… Optical channel, 12 …… Optical sensor, 13 …… Preamplifier, 14 …… Gate circuit, 15 …… Main amplifier and arithmetic circuit, 16
...... Memory section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device for nondestructively measuring the composition of living blood without collecting blood by transmitting a light beam through a part of the body and spectroscopically analyzing the light beam, and using the adjacent fingers of close contact with each other. An apparatus for measuring spectral characteristics of blood components, characterized by having a structure in which a light beam is transmitted through a thin portion near the contact portion.